FabFriday: Engineer Your Sweet Valentine's Day Cards!

It’s that time of year again, the holiday to show others how much you care about them with the timeless gifts of cards… and candy!

Using their creative problem-solving skills - and the engineering design process - your students can invent and design engineered Valentine’s Day cards that hold different kinds of candy. This Fab@School Maker Studio activity encourages students to identify challenges and create models and prototypes to refine their ideas. And, of course there is candy!

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The first step in the design process is to define the challenge. Here’s my challenge: Design two different kinds of card that incorporates candy of two different shapes. The first card will hold a lollipop by the stick, and the second to fold open to show a chocolate candy. With these challenges in mind, I can now collect the data.

There are times where I like to measure everything and use numbers to guide my design process, and other times where I’d rather just play around with no limitations. For this project, I am using a ruler because I want to know the size of the candy before determining how it will be “held” on the card.

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The stick on my lollipop is 2 inches long, and the chocolate heart is 1 ⅜ inches wide and tall.

Using these measurements I will brainstorm my solution. My favorite way is to doodle with paper and scissors, making quick and simple tests for all sorts of ideas. This way, I can get a lot of simple ideas out quickly, and get a rough idea of what I am going to then design with the Fab@School Maker Studio design tool.

My first card will have two holes that I can poke the lollipop stick though. Based off my measurements, I know that the holes must be less than 2 inches apart so that the stick can fit through both of them to lock it in place. I cut out a simple paper rectangle with scissors and made two slits roughly one inch apart. I can then stick the lollipop into the slits to test my design. Looks like it works!

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The second card is a lot of fun. I wanted a folding design with the chocolate inside, but the card couldn’t close completely because the chocolate candy was too thick. I solved this challenge by cutting a hole through the top half of the card, so the candy is visible when the card is both open and closed!

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If your student’s don’t like their draft? That’s okay! They’ll learn something new with each prototype they make, so encourage them to have fun and create! When a student is ready, jump on over to Fab@School Maker Studio to create a digitally fabricated version.

Now it is time for the development work! Using the math tools found within Fab@School Maker Studio, I am able to accurately plan for scale, length, and size.

For the lollipop card, I’m starting with a 4 by 6 inch rectangle, which was created with the Shape Tool. I then place two circles for the holes that the stick will poke through. They are not positioned the exact same as my prototype, but I am placing the holes less than 2 inches apart, so it’s okay! I can now decorate the rest of my card with Library images and the Text tool. Done!

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The folding card is created with two congruent rectangles that have been snapped together with the Magnetize Tool so that they create a fold in the middle. I then place a heart shape with the Shape Tool and size it so that the 1 ⅜ inch wide chocolate can fit through when the card is folded. Once the design has been decorated, it’s ready to print and fabricate!

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This activity is a fun way for your students to experience the engineering design process - more specifically working with prototypes. Encourage your students to share their engineering solutions with the rest of the class! What kinds of cards can you and your students create? Tweet your photos at @FableLearn using the hashtag #FabMakerStudio.

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But wait, there's more! This Fab@School Maker Studio activity is aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards. This activity reinforces the standards K-2-ETS1-1, K-2-ETS1-2, and 3-5 ETS1-1, highlighting the process of defining and designing for challenges, and refining ideas through drafts, models, and prototypes. 

How is your classroom using Fab@School Maker Studio? We'd love to share YOUR tips and ideas! For more FabFriday posts, click here. Send your photos to info@FableVisionLearning.com or Tweet them with the hashtag #FabMakerStudio for a chance to have them featured on the next FabFriday!

FabFriday: From Snow Forts to Bees, First Graders Design with Fab@School Maker Studio

Welcome to FabFriday, a blog series that highlights Fab@School Maker Studio in the classroom. For this week's FabFriday we meet Karen Wolff's first grade class at the Boyden School in Walpole, Ma. This post first appeared on Mrs. Wolff's blog, The Wolff Den. 

What a fun week we had building a snow fort! The idea started by exploring with Fab@School Maker Studio software on our Chromebooks.  We experimented with different shapes and connected them. From there, we learned how to make 3-D solids. We were going to create a snow village with our solids, but instead decided to build a snow fort!  We started by creating cubes with the Fab@School Maker Studio, but found that they were too small to build with. We even tried gluing magnets in the cubes to make they stick together, but in the end decided on choosing another solid – rectangular prisms. We went back to the Chromebooks and figured out how to create them and then built our snow fort!

We also created snowflakes to use with the Bee-Bots.

Speaking of bees, we read a story about Honey Bees this week. We learned about the long “u” sound and the two sounds “y” can make at the end of a word. For example, in the word “sunny,” the “y” sound like an “e," but in the word, “fly,” the “y” sounds like an “i.” We also talked about the life cycle of honey bees. We diagramed the bee life cycle using Kid Pix and learned about the anatomy of a bee by creating them with the Fab@School Maker Studio.

In math, we are working with fact families. We learned that all fact families have  three numbers. We can make two addition sentences and two subtraction sentences with the same three numbers.

In social studies we’ve been learning about oceans and continents. We know there are different kinds of land, like plains and mountains and different types of water, like rivers and lakes. We also talked about natural resources like water and wood.

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How is your classroom using Fab@School Maker Studio? We'd love to share YOUR tips and ideas! For more FabFriday posts, click here. Send your photos to info@FableVisionLearning.com for a chance to have them featured on the next FabFriday!

FabFriday: Engineering with Classroom Materials

Welcome to FabFriday, a blog series that highlights tips and tricks for using Fab@School Maker Studio. Fab@ School Maker Studio is a web-based digital fabrication software tool that creates a more accessible, comfortable onramp for teachers to introduce STEM learning to their students. Each week we'll be posting ideas about using different materials, design tips, and construction techniques to help you offer even more fab learning to your students. 

Paperclip? Check! 
Straw? Check!
Popsicle stick? Check!

Wondering about this week’s FabFriday checklist? Check!

In past FabFriday posts, we’ve explored different techniques such as working with shapes, adding color, and learning about different kinds of paper. While paper construction is versatile and surprisingly robust, with a little creativity it’s possible to engineer even more, like inventions that move, animate, and go places, by using materials found in your classroom!

Fasteners: Brads, Paper Clips, Staples, Binder Clips

There are all sorts of fasteners that come in handy when engineering Fab@School Maker Studio projects. Brads (brass paper fasteners) are great for linking pieces of paper through a shared hole, and you can even create rotating or hinging parts. Paper clips can be used to join edges of paper, add weight, and when bent can be used to create unique metal elements. Staples are another way to join together paper, especially in a design that requires a lot of strength.

 I used paper clips when designing my trebuchet catapult, bending them around to create a release pin on the end of the throwing arm.

See it in action! Prototype 3 trebuchet created in Fab@School Maker Studio. #fabmakerstudio #createbravely #itworks #maker

A video posted by FableVision Learning (@fablelearn) on Jan 13, 2017 at 8:27am PST

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Engineering in Action
Fab@School Maker Studio was demonstrated at the 2016 National Technology Leadership Summit in Washington, DC during a Making & Storytelling workshop. 

Participants were introduced to the linear motor invention kit developed and piloted in the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia and in the Laboratory School for Advanced Manufacturing. Through this activity, workshop attendees used laser cut images - created in and exported through Fab@School- to construct a moving articulated figure that expanded upon the paper version.

Give it a try! These paper figures use brads as joints so the soccer player can kick and the basketball player can move both her arms and make the shot! Hop into Fab@School Maker Studio and try this project with library images. 

Supports: Paper/Plastic Straws, Popsicle Sticks, Splints, Dowels

If there is something that you want to build that is challenging to construct entirely out of paper, try and find materials that you can use to strengthen it. Popsicle sticks and wood splints can be used as ribs in between layers of paper to create thin and strong constructions, as well as for constructing frames to build off of.

Straws and dowels are fantastic tubular supports that are light and strong. They also make great axles for wheels, gears, and lever fulcrums. Check out the dowels in the underbelly of this STEAM-Infused STELLA Solar car. This construction allows the wheels to freely rotate while remaining very strong. 

Try combining all or some of these techniques together to fully utilize all of your resources! I used both paper straws and brads to construct this wind-powered pinwheel. What can you combine together with Fab@School Maker Studio?

Look around your classroom and see what ideas spring up from your surroundings! A designer’s environment is a constant inspiration, and finding new materials fuels the inventiveness of creativity.

In future posts, we'd love to share YOUR tips and ideas about how you’re using Fab@School Maker Studio. For more FabFriday posts, click here.  

Send your photos to info@FableVisionLearning.com for a chance to have them featured on the next FabFriday!

FabFriday: Explore More Construction Materials!

Welcome to FabFriday, a blog series that highlights tips and tricks for using Fab@School Maker Studio. Fab@ School Maker Studio is a web-based digital fabrication software tool that creates a more accessible, comfortable onramp for teachers to introduce STEM learning to their students. Each week we'll be posting ideas about using different materials, design tips, and construction techniques to help you offer even more fab learning to your students. In future posts, we'd love to share YOUR tips and ideas about how your'e using Fab@School Maker Studio. For more FabFriday posts, click here.

Fab@School Maker Studio provides engaging digital fabrication/desktop manufacturing tools where elementary and middle school students can make, test, and revise 2D designs, pop-ups, 3D objects, and working machines as they learn science, technology, engineering, and math concepts in a meaningful context. Fab@School Maker Studio uses paper for most activities, allowing for a fast-paced and low-cost design experience. However, not all papers are created equal! Just like how a painter can choose between a wide variety of oils, acrylics, and watercolors, a Fab@School engineer has many choices of building materials. Let’s explore how you can use these materials to their greatest advantage and design more complex constructions!

Copy Paper

This thin white paper is most commonly used in printers. While it is not strong enough for most Fab@School projects, it can be used for prototyping to experiment with your cut, fold, and tab lines before switching to a special sheet of colored or printed paper. Thin paper is also very helpful when making windmills, airplanes, or other projects where a lighter weight construction is needed. 

Check out all of these activities, which have all been created from 65lb Cardstock.

65lb Cardstock

65lb cardstock comes in a wide variety of colors, and is a fantastic mix between structural rigidity and flexibility. It is perfect for 2D, Pop-Up, and 3D construction, as well as projects with simple moving parts. It comes in packs of individual or mixed colors, making it easy to bring a splash of color to your creation. I recommend using this material most often, as it is very diverse. 

This trebuchet catapult was designed with 110lb cardstock to survive the forces of the counterweight and throwing arm!

110lb cardstock

For when 65llb cardstock doesn’t quite cut it, 110lb cardstock opens up the opportunity for stronger construction, more complicated designs, and longer lasting moving parts. While it does not come in as wide of a variety of colors, it makes up for it in strength. Combine it with 65lb cardstock to reinforce critical pieces of your design, or create an entire model with 110lb cardstock for extra durability. 

Pattern and Special Paper

Even decorative papers provide a potential engineering decision! You can use patterned or colored paper to customize and differentiate different parts of your design, or to make your project look more realistic! I used metallic-colored cardstock to make these cars look like they have a shiny coat of paint, and vellum paper was used to create transparent windows!

Do More With Lamination

You can combine all of these different weights of paper to customize your projects! Try gluing entire layers of paper together to create a thicker construction, or combine 65lb and 110lb cardstock to create a structural base with colored cardstock layered on top.

You can also pinpoint sections of your design that need more rigidity and layer 110lb cardstock into just these areas. Check out this STEAM-Infused STORM electric motorcycle made using lamination techniques. 110lb cardstock was used to construct the base of the motorcycle body, and then a layer of colored 65lb cardstock was glued on top to simultaneously fortify and decorate the motorcycle. 

Sometimes I choose which materials to use in order to achieve a certain goal, and other times I decide what I want to build based on available materials. Experiment with as many kinds of paper and cardstock as you can, in whichever order your creative mind flows! 

How are you using different kinds of paper with your Fab@School creations?  In future posts, we'd love to share YOUR tips and ideas about how your'e using Fab@School Maker Studio. Send your photos to info@FableVisionLearning.com to have them featured in an upcoming FabFriday! For more FabFriday posts, click here. 

FabFriday: I’m Thankful For… Shapes!

Welcome to FabFriday, a blog series that highlights tips and tricks for using Fab@School Maker Studio. Through this series, we will focus on different materials, design tips, and construction techniques to make the most out of your paper engineering experience. For more FabFriday posts, click here.

Shapes comprise almost everything you can see! Just look around you, your classroom, or your entire town. Which shape do you see the most? Breaking down everyday items into their base shapes is a fun and eye-opening exercise. You can also imagine and build with shapes!

I love shapes - you could say I am thankful for shapes! So, this Thanksgiving I am celebrating by making a festive turkey out of shapes with Fab@School Maker Studio.

Let’s begin by making a circle with the Shape Tool for the body.

Next is the turkey’s neck, which I design by combining two circles with the Weld Tool and the Edit Points Tool. 

Now I need to make the face! It’s a lot of fun to experiment with how to make different expressions with shapes. Here I use a triangle for the beak, two circles for the eyes,  and an oval for the “snood” draped over the turkey’s beak.

Now what turkey is complete without their magnificent feathers? I’m going to make the feathers for my turkey by creating an oval and stretching one control point with the Edit Points Tool to make a long feather-like shape.

I layered all of my shapes together to see what my turkey is going to look like once it is fabricated and assembled. When I turn on the X-Ray Tool, I can see how the overlapping shapes cause all of the red cut lines to intersect. If I were to send this project to the Silhouette cutter like this, it would cut the paper into tiny pieces! 

In order to send my turkey to a Silhouette cutter, I’ll have to separate the shapes onto pages that can be cut. I made a lot of copies of the face shapes so I don’t waste paper on such tiny parts. Try using only a few sheets of paper to make enough eyes, beaks, or other parts for your entire class!

I can now fabricate my shapes to create a Fab-tastic Thanksgiving turkey! I fastened the body and neck together with a brad so that my final model can move!

How are you using shapes in your Fab@School Maker Studio creations? Share how you used these tips! Send your photos and ideas to info@FableVisionLearning.com, for a chance to have them featured in an upcoming FabFriday!

FabFriday: Add a Splash of Color to your Fab@School Maker Studio Projects!

Welcome to FabFriday, a blog series that highlights tips and tricks for using Fab@School Maker Studio. Through this series, we will focus on different materials, design tips, and construction techniques to make the most out of your paper engineering experience.

Color is a great way to add a creative flair to your Fab@School Maker Studio projects. There are plenty of colorful techniques to try, all with their own advantages. 

Colored Cardstock
Cardstock paper comes in a wide variety of colors. Try fabricating ready-made and custom creations in your favorite colors. This is good for whenever your project has a large areas of flat color, or a simple color scheme. Layering and mixing different colors is a lot of fun, so make sure you have lots of different colors to experiment with!

Try cutting your page into two colors when fabricating to make parts in two colors at the same time! How can you position cut shapes in your workspace so that you can cut two colors at once? 

Printing with Registration Marks

You can also print Fab@School Maker Studio projects before fabricating. This is key when including Library images and imported pictures in your projects. Remember to use registration marks when printing and fabricating. Learn more about registration marks with our Fabrication Quick Start Guide.

I used printing with registration marks to create this pizza box for Arno's Pizza. This Pizza Troll is from the award-winning math and logic game Zoombinis, developed in partnership with TERC, a not-for-profit leader in K-12 math and science education, the Learning Games Network, a not-for-profit game company, and FableVision Studios. 

Hand Coloring

What’s more fun that drawing all over your creations? Give your projects a unique touch with pens, colored pencils, or markers. After all, it is paper! You can doodle on your prototypes to get new ideas, or add the finishing touch to completed projects!

Combine all Three!

Can you design a Fab@School Maker Studio creation that uses printed pictures, colored paper, and your own drawing? Combining different techniques and trying new things is Fab-tastic! 

How are you adding color to your Fab@School Maker Studio creations? Share how you used these tips! Send your photos and ideas to info@FableVisionLearning.com, for a chance to have them featured in an upcoming FabFriday!

Fab@School Team Joins Global Early Childhood Fab Lab Partnership

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To help tackle the disruption in the STEM education/career pipeline, FableVision and The Reynolds Center have spent the past five years collaborating with University of Virginia’s successful Fab@School Initiative to bring meaningful STEM teaching and learning to many younger learners and their teachers.

This past January, after years of development, testing and research led by Dr. Glen Bull and Dr. Peggy Healy Stearns, the FableVision/Reynolds Center teams released Fab@School Maker Studio digital design and fabrication software, which is the keystone tool in the Fab@School initiative. Made possible in large measure by the generosity of the Cisco Foundation, Fab@School Maker Studio is an easy-to-use web-based digital design and fabrication tool, which invites students in grades 3-8 to experience STEM and STEAM learning in a more engaging, personally meaningful way.   

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Maker Studio offers a unique onramp to creating with cross-curricular activities from simple to sophisticated and support for a variety of materials and a range of tools from scissors to inexpensive 2D cutters to 3D printers and laser cutters – all with a single tool. Beginning with paper, cardstock, and cardboard, Maker Studio provides an accessible, low-cost way to imagine, design, invent, and fabricate 2D designs, pop-ups, and 3D projects like geometric constructions and working machines.  Maker Studio is part of the national Fab@School research initiative and committed to championing equity & access to quality maker education.

Last year, our Fab@School team was also tapped to join the global Early Childhood Fab Lab Partnership, led by the Teaching Institute for Excellence in STEM (TIES) and MIT Fab Foundation to bring the Fab Lab learning experience to early learners (PreK to Grade 2).  Other Early Childhood Fab Lab partners include the Bay Area Discovery Museum, the Center for Childhood Creativity, Virginia Tech’s Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology. To support the Early Childhood Fab Lab mission, with generous support from the Noyce Foundation, the FableVision/Reynolds Center teams are now working to create an early education version (PreK-2) of the recently-developed Fab@School Maker Studio software for both formal and informal spaces.  

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